Tamim back on track

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal batted for the first time in three weeks yesterday and judging by the way he flayed both pacers and spinners from the centre pitch at Mirpur, it seems as though he will be ready for the Afghanistan series which is set to begin on September 25.

Tamim had fractured the little finger on his left hand during catching practice at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on August 27. He was asked to rest for three weeks.

Yesterday, Tamim underwent a CT scan in the afternoon and the result of the scan was positive. It showed that he had improved a lot and it also gave him the green signal to hit the nets later in the evening.

He arrived at Mirpur at 4 pm along with the rest of the team yesterday and waited for everyone's batting sessions to end. Until then he was busy warming up.

Around three hours later Tamim went to the centre pitch, a quarter of which was surrounded by a net, and started facing the likes of Al-Amin Hossain, Mahmudullah Riyad and a few net bowlers.

His cover drives off Al-Amin seemed well-timed while one of his slog sweeps off a spinner actually went on to hit the stands. Both the head coach Chandika Hathurusingha and batting consultant Thilan Samaraweera seemed happy with Tamim's effort.

After completing his batting session, Tamim spoke to reporters on his way back to the dressing room and said that he was feeling a lot better.

“The report said that the fracture in my finger is still there but it's not that serious and if I want I can bat. That's why I batted today to see if it hurts. It didn't hurt at all and I felt completely normal. So that's a good sign."